Compare And Contrast Communism And Fascism

Fascism and communism are both types of totalitarian style governments that had a great influence on the 20th century. Communism involved the emphasis on the common good by seizing private property and distributing it among the masses in order to create state-owned property, whereas fascism involved the complete rule of a dictator by forcibly suppressing the opposition with an emphasis on nationalism and sometimes racism. The most popular example of communism was the Soviet Union, but many smaller countries possessed the Soviet Union’s communist influence. The two most popular examples of fascist style governments include Hitler’s Nazism in Germany, which had an emphasis on racism, and Mussolini’s fascist state in Italy. Although many countries pursued communist style governments, fascism had a greater impact and

Communism believed in a classless society, while Fascism followed a dictatorship, but maintaining a dictatorship required the suppression of the people. Fascist ideology believed that “war alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it,” which requires constant violence to prove power (Lualdi 236). By 1924, Mussolini was able to gain 65% of the vote for fascism, but in 1933, the Nazi party only gained 44% of the vote, and even with a minority ruling party was able to gain control of the government. Both Mussolini and Hitler came into power through legal means, but Mussolini was named Prime Minister in the hopes of avoiding war but after gaining control. Yet after their legal rise into power, they used coercion and violence to further their fascist rulings. The communists also used way to suppress opponents, but they were not to the extent of the fascist